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National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson welcomed President Trump's announcement that he intends to nominate candidates to fill two vacancies on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: Robert Powelson and Neil Chatterjee.

"I appreciate the president taking the vital first step to fill these vacancies, and I urge the Senate to move swiftly to consider these nominees once they are sent from the White House. There is no reason to delay consideration. In fact, the longer the delay, the more daunting the backlog that will face the new commissioners."

"FERC has been left with only two sitting commissioners for the past three months. President Trump's efforts to restore FERC's quorum of commissioners would enable the agency to move forward on issues important to co-ops such as access to a diverse power supply, the certification of natural gas pipelines and ensuring the organized markets are meeting the needs of co-op consumer-members."

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the national service organization that represents the nation's more than 900 private, not-for-profit, consumer-owned electric cooperatives, which provide service to 42 million people in 47 states.